(Newser)
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Should Bruce Karatz spend half a decade in prison—or no time at all? Karatz, the ex-CEO of KB Homes, has been convicted of trying to swindle the company out of $11 million. The probation office says he should get eight months' home confinement. But prosecutors want to lock him up in jail for 6 1/2 years, because being grounded in a “24-bedroom Bel-Air mansion” isn’t much of a punishment. Why the discrepancy? Because the offices disagree over how much money was lost.

The probation office says no money was actually lost, while prosecutors count the $11 million Karatz hoped to make. It’s a prime example, critics tell the Wall Street Journal, of how loss calculations are warping sentencing guidelines. Losses, they argue, can be hard to define, letting some criminals off easy, while discriminating against executives at bigger companies. One judge recently refused to impose the recommended 17- to 22-year sentence on a securities swindler, for example, giving him five instead. “Here in the trenches,” he said, “there is a more nuanced reality.”

Bruce Karatz crimes will be felt by your grandchildren and great grandchildren not by his grandchildren. As the homes he built fall into the ground from shoddy, deceptive building practices accepted as the norm by your politicians. Bruce has lined his pockets and his close circle of friends. Even Michael Milken did 4 years came down with cancer and paid $500 Million for his crimes. Stealing is not a crime to while collar criminals. Getting caught is the real crime. http://www.akbhomesucks.com

Janniel

Nov 9, 2010 1:19 PM CST

They should get the book thrown at them. Major slammer time. Assets tracked and seized too.